1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable coolers for keeping bait fresh and, more particularly, to portable coolers especially adapted for keeping worms fresh.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When going fishing one often takes bait along. On hot days, there is a great tendency for the bait to warm up and lose its freshness. In the case of live bait, the warming up can kill the bait. This is especially so in the case of live worms.
Throughout the years, a number of innovations have been developed relating to keeping live bait alive, and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. are representative of some of those innovations: 3,882,628; 4,450,647; 4,527,350; and 4,815,416. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,628 discloses an insulated bait bucket. This bait bucket has a single removable top or cover which allows access to the interior of the container. A disadvantage of this bait bucket relates to the fact that worms, when contained in soil, may move to the bottom of the soil. As a result, in order to retrieve worms from this bucket, one may have to dig through the top portions of the soil to reach the bottom portions where the worms are located. In this respect, it would be desirable if a container were provided for retaining live worms which does not require digging from a top portion of soil to a bottom portion of soil to reach the worms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,647 discloses a bait holder for live leeches. There is only one cap at the top of the container. Moreover, this device uses a triple-wall structure. For purposes of simplicity of manufacture and to minimize costs, it would be desirable if a container were provided for retaining live worms which includes a single-wall structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,350 discloses a carrier for live worms, and evaporative cooling is used to cool the worms. Evaporative cooling has a number of severe limitations. If relative humidity in the air is high, evaporation, and therefore cooling, is very slow. If too much water is used, liquid leaks can occur. Finally, the actual cooling effect may be too weak or inadequate to provide adequate cooling during a hot day. In this respect, it would be desirable if a container were provided for retaining live worms which provided cooling for the worms without using evaporative cooling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,416 discloses a worm container that includes an interior mesh container. Water condenses from air outside of the mesh, and the condensed water may be used to create a suitable environment for the growth of worms. When water condenses, the heat of condensation should be moved away from the condensed water so that the heat of condensation does not rewarm the water. Because of the heat problem, it would be desirable if a container were provided for retaining live worms which does not depend upon water condensation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,903 may be of interest for its disclosure of a method of growing earthworms.
Still other features would be desirable in a worm cooler apparatus. For example, it would be desirable if a person could carry a worm cooler apparatus in a hands-free manner. It would also be desirable if a lid were tethered to a container so that a lid could not be lost or misplaced once separated from the container. For a dependable cooling source, it would be desirable if sealed, ethylene glycol containing cooling modules can be employed.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use containers for cooling and containing live worms, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a worm cooler apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) does not require digging from a top portion of soil to a bottom portion of soil to reach the worms; (2) includes a single-wall structure; (3) provides cooling for the worms without using evaporative cooling; (4) does not depend upon water condensation; (5) enables a person to carry a worm cooler apparatus in a hands-free manner; (6) provides a tether for a lid to a container so that a lid can not be lost or misplaced once separated from the container; and (7) can use sealed, ethylene glycol containing cooling modules. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique worm cooler apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.